The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1887-12-08
BURNING OF RARE ANIMALS

were destroyed Ivy fire Oh the night
Of y vember 20. 1t was tie work
u au incendary
Id1 building containing the bears
monkeys, aui ,uuuy smaller animals
yas sa7cd. The list Of tho dead in-
cludes four elephants, namely, Alice
Samson, the sacred white elephant,
and q emaller Que. four lions, seven
ileopards, five pauthets, two seu lioi =,
t'o zgbras, tue hippopotamus, be-
sides kspgaroos, ibezts, watt-hogs,
elc.
The lions fret gave the alarm, ip
which tho other nnimal- joined, their
Ioaiings aud bowls Of pain beng
heard above the noise Of The llames.
/ The rhinoc5ros broke his chain aud
came crashing through eide wall
badly scorchci. III is though. That
lie will recover.
The prompt action Of Oto Nabis,
the elephant trainer, WAS remai kabie'
He entered the burning building aud
unchainel most Of the elephants.
Twenty Of these huge beasts
were thus liberated When be came
to the savage Samson, by whom one
keeper had formerly been killed and
mapy ono injured the creature
knocked his behefictor down, aud
acted IN such an ugly mnnuor that It
was impraclicable to release him,
aud he peiishod The lion tamer,
Tim Buckley also entered the build
ing and freed iavoiite old lion that
followed him with the greatest do,
.clily ont through window. The
appearance Of ull these monsters
created panic among the vast
crowd that had assembled to witness
The fire. One man was knocked
down by au elephant, though the oc.'
currenco seemed really accidental,
He bad three Iibs aud one Of his
legs broken. After the first rush
; the elephants clustered together in
an adjacent field aud stood looking
at the fire, until they were cared for
by tho keepers Some of them sub
sequently wandered away, and were
foGud in various door yards in the
morning. One unlncky beast tried
to swim across Long Island Sound.
Failing in the attempt he landed
on a small island, whence in the
morning, some men dislodged him.
lie then made for the shore; but be-.
ing chilled through, be sauk in the
muddy fats Lnd perished'
; The ouormons hide of Jumbo was
b stored in carriage house, and was
> but eighty damaged, while bis bones
were safe in the Philadelphia Mus
cum.
a Many ludicrous anecdotes are told
: concerning the rambles Of the ele-
phnuts and other liberated animals
' which may be true or otherwise.
But the pitiful fate of the great
lion set free by his Feeper is worth
). telling No sooner did he appen.
D outside the burning building, than 1
i couple of police officers began firing
0 at him with resolvers. The keeper
!. begged them to desist, as he was
:, confident that he could control th,
70 animal and secure him in some plac,
j of safety The wounded lion tool
refuge behind n freight car, wher,
his keeper captured him again aut
d presently pat him into pen, Th'
t inc!osure was not sufficiently strong
y however, and after II while the lIo,
- started on his travels. 10 Jumping
c over fence he aligbted on rcp1r
o ter for the London Times, who ueve
u was more surprised in his life. Th,
. man escaped with few scratches
C and the lion went its way During
v the night, Mrs Gilligan heard
n disturbance in Der barn, and suppos
s lug two cows to be fighting, under
e took to part them by pounding then
y with q hoe handle: Tho cow sh,
t was pounding proved to bo the lion
and answered by fsightful growl
Giving the alarm, neighbor brough
o II rifle and shot the lion dead |
2 was found that he had torn tho sid,
u Of Il w, and had begun to make
d repast of her calf. The boys " hC
D visited the spot in the morning Gu
e off the tail and paws as trophies
against the remonstrance OF the ow
= ner Of the COWS, who felt herself en-
= titled to damages.
+ The building that was burned oc ,
J cupied ground space Of 100 by 40(